With nine promotions to his name, Evans seems to have that touch of stardust in the lower divisions. But Shearer said: “It’s not magic or anything.

“It’s nothing but hard work there off the pitch, and it’s up to the players to take that out onto the pitch in games and produce.

“He puts a lot of trust in his players and honesty is the main thing. If you really work hard for him and give everything, he knows that.

“Sometimes it is not going to be good enough. But there have been a few games since he came in and he understand the lads are really trying.

“It’s not been good enough, but he has accepted that. “The biggest thing working under the gaffer is you don’t get the chance to rest.

“If you have a good performance you can’t then think we will take it a bit easier this week – no chance, it will step up and that’s the way he works and why I’ve had so much success under him previously.”

Working under Evans has been a massive change for the squad after two years under Adam Murray.

“I think the lads have taken to it so well, they have embraced the changes,” said Shearer.

“They have come in and it’s totally different styles as we know. It is a work in progress at the moment, changing things over.

“But the lads really enjoy training every single day now. It’s good to be out there as there is lots of football.

“It’s also lots of hard work, but when it’s enjoyable you can’t complain.”

With the January window about to open, all the Stags players know new faces are on the way – and Shearer said they should be using that as a positive.

“I said in my programme notes, as a professional, that’s exactly what you’ve got to be,” he said.

“If someone comes in in your position, you have got to look at it as a positive as it’s going to push you on to be a better player.

“If you can’t do that then you are not fit enough for this industry and that is it.

“The club wants to achieve success and get promotion and go up the leagues. If you want to be a part of that then you need to stick with it.”

On the season so far, he said: “As a squad I think we have been inconsistent.

“Myself personally I have not had enough clean sheets, “You set targets at the start of the season and to be part of a promotion-wining side I have always thought you need 20 clean sheets plus as a goalkeeper.

“I am nowhere near that. It’s something we can all work on and we need to work on every aspect of our game at the moment.

“It’s really frustrating, but that’s where we are and we have to accept it.

“I know the manager is bringing in players and that is going to help us.”

He added: “I think everyone can see it’s anyone’s league. Carlisle have obviously been very good this year. They have a style of football they play and stick to that. I was very impressed when we played them up there.

“But anyone can beat anyone and it’s so annoying. You go into every game thinking you can gain something from it, and when we’ve come away from these games with nothing, yet have dominated it so much, it’s hard at times to keep going.

“But that’s we what you get paid to do and that’s what we’ve got to do.

“We have just lacked a bit of ruthlessness in both boxes really. We have not scored enough goals and conceded far too many in my opinion.

“We need to do better as a team. It’s not just strikers who score goals, it’s midfielders popping up and defenders at set plays.

“I think we’ve given away too many penalties again as well. It’s stuff we can work on which is a positive we can take out of it.”